NCOC imposes new set of COVID-19 restrictions; bans indoor, outdoor events in Islamabad

• All the indoor, outdoor gatherings, except for outdoor wedding events, banned in Islamabad.
• New restrictions will be imposed September 4 till September 12 in Islamabad and selected districts of Punjab and KP.
  
• Intercity public transport restricted in cities having high coronavirus positivity ratio.
• Islamabad DC Hamza Shafqaat says surge in COVID-19 cases have increased the pressure on hospitals.

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre has decided to impose a new set of restrictions in the federal capital from September 4 till September 12 in order to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The NCOC meeting — headed by Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar — gave a briefing to Prime Minister Imran Khan about the new restrictions.

According to the NCOC, all indoor and outdoor gatherings and events have been banned in the city.  However, only outdoor wedding events are allowed to be organised with a maximum of 300 guests.

In addition to this, intercity public transport has been restricted in the cities having a high percentage of coronavirus cases. Indoor gyms will also remain closed.

A review of the restrictions will be carried out on September 9, the NCOC said.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat announced that the increasing COVID-19 cases have increased the pressure on hospitals, therefore, new restrictions had to be imposed.

The DC took to Twitter to announce the enforcement of restrictions in Islamabad that begin from September 4 and will remain in place till September 12, 2021.

Restrictions in selected districts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

In addition to Islamabad, the NCOC also reviewed the situation in selected districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and decided to impose additional restrictions in those districts from September 4 to 12.

Akin to the federal capital, additional restrictions included a ban on all indoor and outdoor gatherings and events with the exception of outdoor weddings. For outdoor weddings, a maximum of 300 guests has been allowed.

Similarly, intercity public transport has been restricted in districts with high coronavirus positivity ratios. Indoor gyms will also remain closed like Islamabad. 

Districts in Punjab included Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Rahim Yar Khan, Khanewal, Faisalabad, Bhakkar, Gujarat, Gujranwala, Multan, Bahawalpur, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, and Sheikhupura.

As for KP, the selected districts include Haripur, Malakand, Mansehra, Swabi, DI Khan, Swat, Abbottabad, and Peshawar.

Punjab schools to remain closed from Sept 6 to 11

Owing to a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, the government of Punjab has also decided to close all schools from September 6 to September 11.

Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas said that schools will remain closed for six days to curb the rapid spread of the virus. 

It should be noted that in the last 24 hours, the coronavirus positivity ratio in Punjab was recorded at 6%. Meanwhile, it was recorded at 9% in Lahore and 10% in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan's COVID-19 graph shows declining trend

Meanwhile, Pakistan's COVID-19 graph has been showing a declining trend as the country has mostly been recording less than 4,000 daily infections all of this week.

The South Asian country registered 3,787 more coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours after 59,745 tests were taken, taking the cumulative caseload to 1,171,578, the NCOC's data showed Friday morning.

The number of active coronavirus cases, too, have been declining for the last three days. The active cases fell to 90,076 Friday.

The positivity rate was recorded at 6.33%.

With 57 more deaths, the death toll crossed the 26,000-mark and now stands at 26,035, according to the NCOC stats.

The country’s daily recoveries continue to outnumber the daily new cases. Over 6,595 recoveries in the last 24 hours took the number of Pakistan's cumulative recoveries to 1,055,467.

Pakistan is reporting 3,911 new infections on average each day, 67% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on June 17.

The country has administered at least 58,156,714 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 13.4% of the country’s population.

During the last week reported, Pakistan averaged about 1,019,949 doses administered each day. At that rate, it will take a further 43 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population.